I can just picture the raw after HIAC, a legend comes out and says Punk only won because Cena wasn't 100% therefore needs to face him one more time to be called BITW. Because apparently beating John Cena means way more than a 317 day title reign does.

I would love Punk to call one of those legends out on it just once

Random Legend- You need to beat John Cena to be called the BITW
Punk- I HAVE BEATEN THAT IDIOT! MITB! RAW 1000! SUMMERSLAM Twice! NOC! WHAT DO YOU CORPSES NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT?!!

Effectively WWE are telling us that if Punk wants to be the BITW like HBK/Bret/HHH/Taker/Austin/Rock then he needs to defeat John Cena, the man who has been beaten by Rock, has been beaten by HHH, been beaten by Undertaker, never faced Austin and never faced Bret. We'll give you HBK though, he beat him. 1 out of 6 ain't bad!!!

That's pretty much what they're telling us and it makes absolutely no sense. They aren't ranking Cena up there with the aforementioned guys they consider the BITW. He isn't part of that rank so why should Punk beating him make him the BITW? On top of that, Punk has already fucking beat him! He beat him at MITB, at Summerslam, at Summerslam again and at NOC. I understand that none of them have been a fully clean win but holy fuck, how many times does he have to beat the Lord and God John Cena in order to be considered the BITW or even worthy of sharing the same ring as him? And then there's the issue of whether or not he will actually win the match. Throw on the fact that Punk has now become the underdog heading in and we have a situation where the heel is the one facing the insurmountable odds and the huge challenge, not the babyface in Cena and the whole thing is a fucking mess tbh. Bad enough that they implicitly have been portraying Cena as above the title for the past year almost but now they are explicitly saying it too. It's just fucking horrendous and I shudder to think of where we'll end up if Punk doesn't go over at HIAC tbh I really do.

Just a few (minor) corrections:

-Cena has beaten Taker and HHH multiple times, and has lost to HBK
-Punk didn't technically beat Cena at NOC

But besides that, great post. However I think you're confusing "Best in the World" with "Greatest of all time". I think the first of the two implies that at the present time the man who has that title is the top of the food chain, the best in the business at that point and not that he's among the best of all time necessarily. Right now Cena does fit the mold as "Best in the World" and Punk needs to overcome him inside HIAC which makes sense. Now this isn't as it should be as Punk is the champ and the champ should be the best in the world, but unfortunately that's not the way it is in WWE Land. However it could be said Rock is currently the best in the world as he did beat Cena at WM28, and hasn't lost a match since his return... but he's only competed twice. And then there's Lesnar, who if he beat Cena would be at the top, and he still might because he did beat HHH and beat Cena within an inch of his life, but there will always be that doubt because the man who ultimately emerged the victor was John Cena.

Sadly, I don't think Punk will get by Cena in the cell. WWE has a tendency to make things that seem too good to be true end up not being true. Punk will eventually accept (assuming Cena will be ready by HIAC) after all this build towards him proving he's the best in the world, only for Cena to beat him.

My ideal situation would be for me is for Punk to get by Cena in the cell, and then at SVS either compete against someone else or end the feud with Cena once and for all in an Ironman match. Then at TLC give Punk anybody else, hell... maybe give him Ryback in a ladder/TLC/Tables match or something, so Ryback can lose without getting pinned and keep an aura of invincibility. Then comes the RR, where he drops the title to Rock.

Umm. but the storyline doesnt makes much sense. How does defeating Cena at HIAC solidify him as BITW?.. He has already beaten him alot of times. Stupid Stupid!

probably because it's HELL IN A CELLLLL, THE DEVILS PLAYGROUUUUND *voice of mcmahon*

the whole cena taking time off....hahahaha, god they are not fooling anyone, unless Cena gets an "almost" career threatening injury to the point mcmahon gets scared to the point of shitting himself that he will lose his poster boy for good he won't give cena any time off, AT ALL

Effectively WWE are telling us that if Punk wants to be the BITW like HBK/Bret/HHH/Taker/Austin/Rock then he needs to defeat John Cena, the man who has been beaten by Rock, has been beaten by HHH, been beaten by Undertaker, never faced Austin and never faced Bret. We'll give you HBK though, he beat him. 1 out of 6 ain't bad!!!

That's pretty much what they're telling us and it makes absolutely no sense. They aren't ranking Cena up there with the aforementioned guys they consider the BITW. He isn't part of that rank so why should Punk beating him make him the BITW? On top of that, Punk has already fucking beat him! He beat him at MITB, at Summerslam, at Summerslam again and at NOC. I understand that none of them have been a fully clean win but holy fuck, how many times does he have to beat the Lord and God John Cena in order to be considered the BITW or even worthy of sharing the same ring as him? And then there's the issue of whether or not he will actually win the match. Throw on the fact that Punk has now become the underdog heading in and we have a situation where the heel is the one facing the insurmountable odds and the huge challenge, not the babyface in Cena and the whole thing is a fucking mess tbh. Bad enough that they implicitly have been portraying Cena as above the title for the past year almost but now they are explicitly saying it too. It's just fucking horrendous and I shudder to think of where we'll end up if Punk doesn't go over at HIAC tbh I really do.

dammit so fucking true, it's funny that's the first time a Heel it's an underdog and has to beat the face against all odds to be considered something, it's like WWE has everything ass backwards (like they always do mind you), if cm punk loses at HIAC then that's it, there's no point in punk having any credibility whatsoever and I assure you, once the title changes hand suddenly it will become relevant and be the "most coveted thing" in the WWE universe

So Punk's been the champion for 317 days now and he has to "earn" respect? He's already beaten John Cena many times,Why does he have to do it again? Just like Punk said,Cena has to EARN his spot to fight the "Best in the world" and the "Best in the world" is a the WWE Champion.These legends just keep looking dumber and dumber when they whine about how they want to see Punk vs Cena and HIAC.

Hopefully though,Punk does face Cena at HIAC and beats him and makes it seem as if he really hurt Cena to the point where Cena gets "injured" and takes time off,Leaving Punk as the "Cena Killer" and for him to brag about it for a long ass time to all the legends.

Ulfric Stormcloak; not a racist, not a megalomaniac, not a savage, but a hero with heart & ambition.

All hail to Ulfric you are the High King
In your great honor we drink and we sing
We're the children of Skyrim and we fight all our lives
And when Sovngarde beckons everyone of us dies

We drink to our youth to the days come and gone
For the age of oppression is now nearly done

I can just picture the raw after HIAC, a legend comes out and says Punk only won because Cena wasn't 100% therefore needs to face him one more time to be called BITW. Because apparently beating John Cena means way more than a 317 day title reign does.

I would love Punk to call one of those legends out on it just once

Random Legend- You need to beat John Cena to be called the BITW
Punk- I HAVE BEATEN THAT IDIOT! MITB! RAW 1000! SUMMERSLAM Twice! NOC! WHAT DO YOU CORPSES NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT?!!

FUCKING LMFAO

Ulfric Stormcloak; not a racist, not a megalomaniac, not a savage, but a hero with heart & ambition.

All hail to Ulfric you are the High King
In your great honor we drink and we sing
We're the children of Skyrim and we fight all our lives
And when Sovngarde beckons everyone of us dies

We drink to our youth to the days come and gone
For the age of oppression is now nearly done

-Cena has beaten Taker and HHH multiple times, and has lost to HBK
-Punk didn't technically beat Cena at NOC

But besides that, great post. However I think you're confusing "Best in the World" with "Greatest of all time". I think the first of the two implies that at the present time the man who has that title is the top of the food chain, the best in the business at that point and not that he's among the best of all time necessarily. Right now Cena does fit the mold as "Best in the World" and Punk needs to overcome him inside HIAC which makes sense. Now this isn't as it should be as Punk is the champ and the champ should be the best in the world, but unfortunately that's not the way it is in WWE Land. However it could be said Rock is currently the best in the world as he did beat Cena at WM28, and hasn't lost a match since his return... but he's only competed twice. And then there's Lesnar, who if he beat Cena would be at the top, and he still might because he did beat HHH and beat Cena within an inch of his life, but there will always be that doubt because the man who ultimately emerged the victor was John Cena.

Sadly, I don't think Punk will get by Cena in the cell. WWE has a tendency to make things that seem too good to be true end up not being true. Punk will eventually accept (assuming Cena will be ready by HIAC) after all this build towards him proving he's the best in the world, only for Cena to beat him.

My ideal situation would be for me is for Punk to get by Cena in the cell, and then at SVS either compete against someone else or end the feud with Cena once and for all in an Ironman match. Then at TLC give Punk anybody else, hell... maybe give him Ryback in a ladder/TLC/Tables match or something, so Ryback can lose without getting pinned and keep an aura of invincibility. Then comes the RR, where he drops the title to Rock.

JR named some names and said that he called them the BITW and would call them it without them ever having to ask him to do so. Punk doesn't call himself the GOAT, he calls himself the BITW, that's where the discussion is stemming from. It's nothing to do with the GOAT. JR said Bret/HBK/HHH/Taker/Austin were BITW or Best's in the World if that makes it clearer. I included Rock because presumably he'd be up there too. I know that Cena has beaten Taker/HHH but they've also beaten him. The whole underlining thing with this feud is that Punk has to beat Cena to become the BITW but JR didn't even mention Cena as being in the same group as the BITW's he listed therefore why does Punk have to beat a guy who he has already beaten and who everybody on that list as an actual BITW has beaten too or never even faced? If the winning of the match is the issue at hand for Punk to become the BITW, which JR and others have clearly stated that it is, then the entire thing makes absolutely no sense. This is right up there with Cena calling Punk's reign irrelevant but only this time they've gone and told us that for Punk to mean anything he has to beat Cena because beating Cena will solidify him as the BITW and beating Cena is a bigger deal than holding the WWE title for 317 days. It's so fundamentally flawed it's unreal tbh.

JR named some names and said that he called them the BITW and would call them it without them ever having to ask him to do so. Punk doesn't call himself the GOAT, he calls himself the BITW, that's where the discussion is stemming from. It's nothing to do with the GOAT. JR said Bret/HBK/HHH/Taker/Austin were BITW or Best's in the World if that makes it clearer. I included Rock because presumably he'd be up there too. I know that Cena has beaten Taker/HHH but they've also beaten him. The whole underlining thing with this feud is that Punk has to beat Cena to become the BITW but JR didn't even mention Cena as being in the same group as the BITW's he listed therefore why does Punk have to beat a guy who he has already beaten and who everybody on that list as an actual BITW has beaten too or never even faced? If the winning of the match is the issue at hand for Punk to become the BITW, which JR and others have clearly stated that it is, then the entire thing makes absolutely no sense. This is right up there with Cena calling Punk's reign irrelevant but only this time they've gone and told us that for Punk to mean anything he has to beat Cena because beating Cena will solidify him as the BITW and beating Cena is a bigger deal than holding the WWE title for 317 days. It's so fundamentally flawed it's unreal tbh.

I took it as he meant back in their peaks, they were the BITW (not at this point in time). Maybe that's not how it was meant to be seen, but I'm just saying that GOAT is what those guys are, where BITW, which applies to this current point in time, they're not (you can't be the best in the world forever). Right now Cena happens to be that guy, despite the fact it's just wrong that the WWE CHAMPION isn't seen as that and despite being champion for nearly a year and beating Cena, he's still not seen as such (in kayfabe at least) by everyone around him.

I took it as he meant back in their peaks, they were the BITW (not at this point in time). Maybe that's not how it was meant to be seen, but I'm just saying that GOAT is what those guys are, where BITW, which applies to this current point in time, they're not (you can't be the best in the world forever). Right now Cena happens to be that guy, despite the fact it's just wrong that the WWE CHAMPION isn't seen as that and despite being champion for nearly a year and beating Cena, he's still not seen as such (in kayfabe at least) by everyone around him.